The tenth and final installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments”, is from, what else? … the original John Carpenter-directed and scored 1978 film, “Halloween,” starring “Scream Queen” Jamie Lee Curtis. A fitting way to wish all of you a Happy Halloween! The claustrophobic scene takes place in a closet, where Laurie Strode is trying desperately to avoid the clutches of Michael Myers—who long ago perfected the art of wearing a mask! You don’t think she actually killed him, do you? Check it out!
Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments: “The City of the Dead” (aka “Horror Hotel”) (IX)
It’s Halloween weekend and time for the ninth installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments.” It’s a scene from a little 1960 film that is a sentimental favorite; it gave me the creeps when I first saw it on my black and white TV as a youngster. “The City of the Dead” is the extended British version of what was re-titled “Horror Hotel” for American audiences. This one has it all: gloomy atmospheric fog, a wretched graveyard resting on unconsecrated ground, witches, warlocks, thunder and lightning, human sacrifices, and the macabre presence of the great Christopher Lee. Tomorrow evening, TCM is showing this film back-to-back with “Psycho” and there’s a reason for it. SPOILER ALERT! This movie was released a few months after “Psycho”, but filming began in October 1959, one month before Alfred Hitchcock’s classic went into production. Both films use an infamous plot device that left audiences stunned: knocking off one of the central characters in the first reel! It took 47 minutes to happen in “Psycho” and a little less than 40 minutes to happen in this film. If “Psycho” warns us of the dangers of taking a shower in the Bates Motel, “Horror Hotel” warns us of the dangers of descending into the caverns beneath The Raven’s Inn. Don’t these folks check out their accommodations before they book a room?! Don’t these people know the Codes and Conventions of a Horror Film?! Sheesh!
NYC Mayoral Race (III): It’s a De Blasio Halloween
Unlike my last two posts on the Mayoral Race here and here, this one is just a note to Star Trek fans everywhere! NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that he’s donning a Star Trek uniform for Halloween as an homage to Captain James T. Kirk (played by
William Shatner in the original TV series). Aged 90 years, 6 months and 22 days, Shatner recently became the oldest person to fly into space (aboard the Blue Origin NS-18).
The Twitterverse was all a twizzy over de Blasio’s “homage” because he got the colors all wrong.
Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments: “Frankenstein” (VIII)
No horror movie series would be complete without at least one film clip from the grand Universal Monster Tradition! The seventh installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments”, is from the 1931 James Whale-directed classic, “Frankenstein,” with Boris Karloff as the Monster. This wasn’t the first cinematic representation of the 1818 Mary Shelley novel; that distinction belongs to Edison Studio’s 1910 silent one-reeler. However, this scene, when Henry Frankenstein (“Victor” in the novel) brings life to a being made from the reassembled remains of corpses, is a true gem. “It’s Alive!”
Still Hilarious Geiko Halloween Commercial …
Cracks me up every time!
Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments: “Night of the Living Dead” (VII)
One more for today: The seventh installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments”, is from the low-budget George Romero 1968 black-and-white classic that gave new life to the zombie genre: “Night of the Living Dead.” From the opening scene, where Johnny tries to scare his sister in a cemetery with the line, “They’re coming to get you Barbara”, the die—no pun intended—has been cast. Check out the scene where the dead rise, and we’re not talkin’ Lazarus!
Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments: “Poltergeist” (VI)
The sixth installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments”, comes from the original 1982 supernatural horror film, “Poltergeist.” The film has its share of very spine-tingling, shocking moments. But let me make one thing perfectly clear. I. Do. Not. Like. Clowns. Everything from Pennywise to Bozo Creeps Me the Freak Out! Would you buy a cereal with this face on the box? It’s traumatizing! I don’t like creepy puppets or dolls either. So animated puppet-like clown dolls are enough to send me to the lobby! (Okay, I don’t like Spiders either, but that’s another story!) Check out this scene from one of the best ghost movies ever made!
*Ed: Wow! How mysterious! The film is on TCM Right Now (started at 8 pm ET)
NYC Mayoral Race (II): You Call This “Heating Up”?
The headline in the New York Daily News this week was: “Mayor Race is Heating Up”! Considering that I just recently expressed astonishment over the civility of the campaign thus far, I have been waiting for the heated attacks to begin!
Tim Balk writes: “Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa are getting ready to do battle ahead of their first debate before the general election for mayor.”
Sliwa, the long-shot Republican nominee, issued a barrage of broadsides against his well-funded Democratic rival on Tuesday, suggesting Adams is beholden to special interests and is reckless for saying he’d carry a gun as mayor. …
“If he wants to participate in a circus, that’s fine,” Adams told reporters after surveying a newly planted urban farm in Brownsville, Brooklyn. “I’m just not buying the tickets.”
In a Tuesday morning stump speech in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, Sliwa leaned into his favorite criticisms of Adams, saying that real estate developers and “hedge-fund monsters” are lining up behind his opponent. The Republican, who founded the Guardian Angels patrol group and has long spurned firearms, thundered, “Eric Adams, shame on you, for always talking about how you’re going to carry a gun.” Adams, in turn, said Sliwa should focus on “people who are carrying guns illegally.” …
Adams also said Sliwa has been a “leading voice of being a racist.” Sliwa, who is white, bristled at the remark from Adams, who is Black and campaigned against police brutality in the NYPD. “Curtis may be many things,” said Sliwa, whose public safety groups are largely comprised of people of color. “But no one accuses him of being racist.” …“The 1st NYC mayoral debate is October 20th,” Sliwa tweeted Monday. “So mark your calendar, stock up on popcorn, and call in sick to your niece’s dance recital because you’re not gonna wanna miss it.”
Well, gee, I hope so! I mean if this is what folks call “heating up”, we got a long way to go before the boiling point!
Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments: “House on Haunted Hill” (V)
The fifth installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments”, is from the original 1959 Vincent Price classic: “House on Haunted Hill.” The man whose devilish laugh has echoed through the ages, on film and on theatrical pop hits—and even live with Joan Rivers [YouTube links] pulls all the strings in this scene! Take an Acid Bath and call me in the morning!
Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments: “Black Sunday” (IV)
It’s Sunday, and it’s a Black One! The fourth installment in my “cinematic moments” series, “Ten Creepy! Scary! Shocking! LOL! Horror Film Moments”, is from the 1960 Mario Bava masterpiece of Italian gothic horror: “Black Sunday” (aka “La Maschera del demonio”). This film is unsettling from the very first scene, which I feature today. It is listed among Bravo’s 100 Scariest Films of All Time [YouTube link]. So you don’t like wearing masks, eh? You might have a point! Har! Har! Check it out!
